Duplicity
by Emanon831410
Summary: If you don't understand the title, check it up on the dictionary. This is a story about sacrificing yourself for the better of some else. How much it hurt to let go of your love, and learning why fairy tales always have a "happily ever after" in the end.


**Disclaimer: PoT does not belong to Emanon.**

P.S. first story, so pleez go easy...

**Summary:** "So you want me to hook Ryoma with Ryuzaki-chan neh? This will be interesting… it's just kind of hard to believe that Ryoma actually fell for someone." "So you'll do it?" "Of course! Why would I miss out on such a good opportunity? Demo… are you sure he actually fell for her?" "Well… we'll find out soon enough." A story about sacrificing yourself for the better of someone else.

Chapter 1

This chapter is basically flashbacks that are extremely important to the story.

_Childhood Memories_

_Flashback: Scenes upon the Tennis Court_

"Neh! Austin nii-chan! Go easy on me will you?"

"Haha… no way Alyssa! You'll never improve that way!"

"mou…"

Austin first served an easy underhand serve over the net in a graceful form to Alyssa. She returned it easily. It wasn't the first time she played tennis. She often played in this park with her brother. Her brother was already in his first year of Junior High, while she was only in Gr. 5. They've been playing tennis since they were 3 years old, because of their father, who was a faithful fan to the Legendary Samurai, Nanjirou Echizen. It was said that he had retired but due to an unknown reason. I wonder why?

"Oi! Alyssa, don't lose your concentration! Watch out!"

Austin, who was already a childhood prodigy of tennis at his school, misjudged his strength and sent an extremely fierce smash over the net. Alyssa, who was in a state of shock and could only use her inhuman reflexes to return the ball, couldn't handle the godly power. In the split second the racket connected with the ball, it was sent flying out of her hands.

Alyssa spaced out for a minute, as the pain and pressure on her wrist slowly sank in. She could feel a piercing pain and the burn in her muscles. She collapsed on the ground and writhed in pain.

"Alyssa! Daijoubu?" Austin looked worriedly at her. _Man was his dad going to be pissed!_

Alyssa could only curse herself for having such a weak wrist. Since she was small, she had always been playing piano as her hobby. She was extremely delicate and could interpret the pieces magnificently and played very maturely for her age. Debussy, Beethoven, Ravel, Bartok… she could play them all. It was one day that her piano instructor insisted that she try Rachmaninoff. The piece was obviously too big for her hands, but he forced her to play it. During practice, Alyssa injured her hand severely playing 13ths and could not move her left wrist for a long time. Both her parents were worried, which is why she stopped piano and took up tennis to exercise her wrist. She has never dared to play piano since.

"Mada mada dane. You guys suck."

"Huh?" Both Alyssa and Austin looked towards the source of the voice. Coming from the bush beside the court was a young boy sporting a whit polo shirt, black, fitted shorts and a whit fila cap to stop his hair from ruffling in the wind. He pulled his cap down and smirked cockily at Alyssa.

"Oi! Who are you to speak to me and my sister like that? And don't give us that look!" Austin was extremely protective towards his sister and he just couldn't let someone insult her just like that.

"You guys suck."

"Okay that's it! You're on shorty" Austin furiously launched a fisted hand at the capped head, though to see surprisingly that he had no fear in his eyes.

Alyssa looked frantically at her brother and the mysterious boy who had just appeared from nowhere. She didn't know what to do. Alyssa knew that her brother was always the protective type and couldn't let anyone hurt a hair on her, let alone insult her! She looked at that boy, and saw a hardly noticeable stream of blood coming from his forehead.

"Austin nii-chan! Stop! I think he's hurt!"

"Eh?"

Both boys looked at her as if she was crazy and out of her mind. Alyssa was indeed very worried about the boy with the white cap.

"Did my racket hit you on the head?"

"So it was your racket."

"I'm so sorry! It's totally my fault!!"

"Of course it is. Who else could it be but you?"

"Mou, that was mean!"

"Hn."

"Jeez… if you won't accept help, then I'll just have to force help on you!"

"What the heck ar—"

Alyssa was mad. Really mad. She wanted to help him, yet he kept on pushing her away. Now there is no turning back. Alyssa pushed the boy on the floor, took the first aid kit hastily from her tennis bag, and started wrapping a band around his forehead, stopping the blood from flowing. When she was satisfied with her work, she took a step, and observed.

"You look kind of cute Fila-cap-kun" Alyssa smiled at the boy.

"Hn." The boy looked away a little, hiding his blush by pulling his cap down.

"My name is Alyssa. Ano… I would like to know your real name too." Alyssa nervously asked.

"Ryoma"

"Don't you have a last name?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"E- echizen."

"Echizen? Are you related to the legendary Echizen Nanjirou?"

"Hn."

"Wah! Sugoi it's so cool meeting you! I've wanted to meet the reason that made the legendary Echizen Nanjirou-sama leave the professional world since forever! You must be good at tennis too!"

Alyssa was so excited that she forgot he was still a stranger. She shook his hand vibrantly and smiled again at him, while he looked at her, wide-eyed, shocked, and in complete puzzlement.

_Who is this girl again? Alyssa or something? She's so straight-forward… but her smile is so nice… and she's so pret—wait what am I thinking?_

"Oi, Alyssa, YOU ARE IGNORING ME!" Austin said with a you-are-so-dead look on his face.

"Hehehe…"

"It's time to go home Alyssa. Let's go!"

"But I wanted to talk more with Ryoma-kun!

"_Eh??? 'Ryoma-kun'? Who told her to call me that?"_

"What part of 'going home' don't you get?"

"Alright! Jeez… I get it! Mou… sayonara, Ryoma-kun!"

"Hn."

Ryoma turned around and spied on the siblings from the corner of his eye. When he was sure they were gone, he turned around, revealing a flushed face. He took his water bottle and dumped all of its components on his head. Feeling cooler, he turned around and walked off.

_Must be the hot weather…_

"Neh, Austin nii-chan, do you think I'll ever get to see him again?" Alyssa asked, deep in thought.

"Who?"

"Ryoma-kun, of course!" Alyssa gave him a death glare.

"Who's that?"

"How could you forget him so quickly?"

"Nononono… I didn't forget him. I just have... short- term- memory- loss. " Austin faked through gritted teeth.

"He's the guy that was wearing the white fila cap. Echizen Ryoma." Hearing that name made his blood boil.

"But sis, I bet, no, I know that one day you will see him again!" Austin said, hoping to cheer up Alyssa's solemn face. Even though the chances were scarce, it wouldn't hurt to just hope for the best right?

"I hope so too…"

_End of Flashback: Scenes upon the Tennis Court_

_(AN: This is still a RyoSaku fanfic, no worries!) _

_Present Time_

_Alyssa POV_

I held my suitcase close to my body. This is what? My second time going to Japan? The first time was a total disaster. Well, if it wasn't for the first time, I would never be in this mess anyways. Damn it! I hate you Momo-senpai! Though, it would be kind of interesting to see how this all turns out...

_Flashback: La Café d'un Promesse (The Café of a Promise) _

Alyssa walked casually into the ever-busy mornings of Café Rouge, a prominent hangout for Japanese Teens. She is currently on an exchange program with a very famous Tokyo school, something like Seishun Gakuen or whatever. Alyssa was wearing a simple t-shirt with jeans with her hair down. Her style was simple, yet it made her look very pretty. A waiter comes, asking her where she wants to sit, and Alyssa asks for a booth, then sits down. She looked annoyingly at her watch. He was late. Whomever she was meeting from Seishun Gakuen or whatever was 20 minutes late. _Are all Japanese people like this..._?? And just when she was about to stand up and leave, someone bursted through the door. A spiky, black-haired teen rushed to her.

"Are you Miss Alyssa?" He asked, in broken English. He blushed, as he probably knew that his English was really horrible.

"I am.. if I heard you right." Alyssa frowned. How am I suppose to understand him? "You can speak Japanese to me, if you would like. It's no big."

"Phew... I thought I was going to be in big trouble there." He sighed, and then looked up. "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi.You can call me Momo-chan, if you'd like!"

Alyssa sweat-dropped. Wow... this guy's amazing, his mood changes so fast! Alyssa shook her head quickly, clearing her thoughts.

"No... since you are older than me... that seems inappropriate."

"Call me Momo-chan-senpai then"

"Saa... how about just Momo-senpai?"

"Fine...jeez, I can never get people to call me Momo-chan!" He sighed in frustration.

Alyssa and Momo looked at each other and smiled. Alyssa knew she was getting off to a good start.

"So... Momo-senpai, are you going to order? Cause I'm starving to death here!" Alyssa whined, making a cute face.

"yeah, we'd better order?" Momo agreed.

"So... how's Seigaku?"

"Well... it's a good school and of course it is has one of the best tennis teams in Japan!" Momo stated, proudly

"You see Alyssa-san, we have many different players on our team, and each of them have their own distinctive style and our Buchou is REALLY strong. Not even Echizen can beat him!"

"Chotto matte Momo-senpai... did you say Echizen? As in Echizen Ryoma?" Alyssa asked, surprised. After all, she didn't expect him to be in Japan.

"How do you know him?"

"I met him once when he still lived in America."

"So do you know much about him?"

"Not really... I've only met him once!" Alyssa said, excited to know more.

"Well... but I guess that's okay! You can still help me!" Momo yelled, excitedly.

"So what do you need help with?"

'Well, you are staying in our school for a year right? Well, me and my team mates have a theory that Echizen likes this other girl called Ryuzaki Sakuno, who is also in his class. We want to hook them up together. Except, we all are guys and we don't have a girl to approach Ryuzaki-chan... so will you help me? Please????"

"So you want me to hook Ryoma with Ryuzaki-chan neh? This will be interesting… it's just kind of hard to believe that Ryoma actually fell for someone though." Alyssa said. _Well I guess my crush on him won't be realized... but I guess that's okay!_

"So you'll do it?" Momo asked, eagerly.

"Of course! Why would I miss out on such a good opportunity? Demo… are you sure he actually fell for her?"

"Well… we'll find out soon enough." Momo stated, confidently. "I'm sure we'll hook them up together!" And he pumped his fists in the air in excitement.

For the rest of the time, Alyssa and Momo talked on and on without stopping. They found many things in common and of course, the common interest of tennis. Then they started to fight over who was better, Federer or Nadal, each cheering for their respective favorite player. Alyssa smiled. She has really growned to like Momo. They got along with each other really nicely... well, most of the time anyways.

"Nee... Momo-senpai, you're really nice"

"Thanks Alyssa, you are too"

"Just one thing..." Alyssa pondered, biting her nails, pretending to be in deep thought...

"Tell me already!" Momo cried impatiently

"Alright then..." Alyssa continued

"Momo-senpai!"

"Yes sir!... I mean Madam" Momo corrected, when Alyssa glared at him.

"Repeat after me" Alyssa said in a grand manner.

"Repeat after me!"

"That I'll never, ever"

'That I'll never, ever"

"Take another English course, because I suck at it!" Alyssa smirked. This was going to be funny.

"Take another English course, because I su-- HEY!" He was being tricked. Momo smirked and lunged at Alyssa.

"You can't catch me!' Alyssa yelled at Momo. She ran out of the shop with Momo tailing her.

When both were out of breath, and both agreed that it was going to be a tie, they started walking towards Seigaku.

"Oh and by the way, you look really pretty Alyssa-san!" Momo said, through gritted teeth.

"Why thank you.. but unfortunately I can't say the same about you." Alyssa said, smirking.

"Why do you always get the last laugh Alyssa?"

"Because... I just do!"

_End of Flashback: The Cafe of a Promise  
_


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